Abstract. This work presents the first high-resolution reconstruction of rainfall in
southwestern Spain during the period 1750–1840. The weather descriptions
used are weekly reports describing the most relevant events that occurred in
the Duchy of Feria. An index was defined to characterise the weekly
rainfall. Monthly indices were obtained by summing the corresponding weekly
indices, obtaining cumulative monthly rainfall indices. The reconstruction
method consisted of establishing a linear correlation between the monthly
rainfall index and monthly instrumental data (1960–1990). The correlation
coefficients were greater than 0.80 for all months. The rainfall
reconstruction showed major variability similar to natural variability. The
reconstructed rainfall series in Zafra was compared with the rainfall series
of Cadiz, Gibraltar and Lisbon for the period 1750–1840, with all four
series found to have a similar pattern. The influence of the North Atlantic
Oscillation (NAO) on the winter rainfall reconstruction was found to behave
similarly to that of modern times. Other studies described are of the SLP
values over the entire North Atlantic in the months with extreme values of
rainfall, and unusual meteorological events (hail, frost, storms and
snowfall) in the reports of the Duchy of Feria.